Well my pa don’t say much but he don’t like none of my suitors
and my ma never stops she’s like a wasp in a winderpane
My sisters they fume and they tell me it’s my duty
Though I don’t want to wed, suitors harp at me again
Crowdin’ round, night and day
crowdin’ round, braggin’ and laughin’
Crowdin’ round, beggin’ kisses sayin’
When you gonna marry me?
I have sent them all off down the road in dusty twilight
and in peace I can pull down and play my mandolin
in the dark by the gatepost I hear a banjo twangin
And he’s far enough away that my pa can’t call it sin
Crowdin’ round, night and day
crowdin’ round, braggin’ and laughin’
Crowdin’ round, beggin’ kisses saying
When you gonna marry me?
All my life I’ve looked after my sisters and my brothers
now they tell me to marry and move out my trousseau
I’m worn out with this fam’ly and now must start another
Ne’er to sail foreign seas now, or hike in mountain snow
Crowdin’ round, night and day
crowdin’ round, braggin’ and laughin’
Crowdin’ round, beggin’ kisses saying
When you gonna marry me?
Some nights after my suitor let the banjo introduce him
He appears and then shyly he asks me for my hand
He’d not press me with children, as having the impression
It was something a husband and wife would jointly plan
instrumental break
Oh you speak to my heart, but what other chains are hiding
Shall I spend all my days by a stove and a sink
Shall I gasp in a fact’ry or wait upon your tidings
While you gamble in brothels and spend your health in drink?
chorus and fade